Containers comprising a base portion and a lid portion moveable about a spine portion between an open and a closed configuration and having holding means for holding information storage media within the container are well known. One widely used container of this type is a container for housing DVDs.
The industry has adopted DVD containers having substantially uniform external dimensions so they are readily recognised by the consumer as containing a DVD (rather than, for instance, a music CD) and so they are compatible with both display systems used in retail outlets and storage devices used by the consumer. The moulds used for making such injection moulded containers are made to a very high specification so as to be able to reliably fabricate hundreds of thousands, or millions, of containers to the desired quality. Fabrication of such tools is thus very expensive and can take a considerable length of time (typically several months).
For the above reasons, the containers produced by a given manufacturer tend to be relatively standardized. However, the studios providing the content of a DVD, e.g. particular software or a particular movie or film, also have a desire for their products to be readily identifiable and distinguishable when presented to the consumer, e.g. in a retail outlet. The present invention aims to provide a technical solution to these conflicting requirements.